With both NCAA Championships now in the rearview mirror, it’s time for everyone’s favorite game of “hindsight is 20/20.” We look back at our final team predictions to see who over- and underperformed our expectations.

Simone Manuel rocketed to the 2nd fastest performance of all time, putting up a 46.02 leadoff split as the Stanford Cardinal set a new NCAA and American Record to win the 400 free relay. Manuel teamed up with Katie Ledecky (47.52), Janet Hu (47.63), and Lia Neal.

In the final swim of her NCAA career, U.S. Olympian Lia Neal anchored with a blistering 46.37 to seal the deal for her team. Their historic combined time of 3:07.61 took nearly a full second off the former record of 3:08.51 set by the same team at last month’s Pac-12 Championships.

Even when I am not personally invested, I find myself experiencing certain emotions after a meet that are unrivaled by other entertainment events. Congrats to Stanford, the athletes, coaches, staff, and the fans at the venue! Way to go in as the favorites, perform, and win in a dominating fashion.

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1 year ago

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona and the University of Florida. She got her M.S. in Criminology from Florida State and seems exceptionally confused about which team she should cheer for during the college football season. Lauren is currently working on her M.A. in …